By Jim Saunders The News Service of Florida TALLAHASSEE — Pointing to a “crisis” in costly water-damage claims, the Citizens Property Insurance Board of Governors on Wednesday unanimously approved a proposed 6.8 percent statewide rate increase. The proposal would have varying effects for customers of the state-backed insurer, with some homeowners seeing premiums go up…
Ron Hurtibise – Sun Sentinel The arguments were familiar at a daylong forum in Boca Raton attended by 150 players in Florida’s homeowner insurance rate crisis. But unlike their usual methods of venting over the past four years — legislative hearings in Tallahassee, websites, letters to the editor — the opposing sides listened to each…
Charles Elmore – Palm Beach Post The CEO of one of Florida’s 10 biggest property insurers told a forum in Boca Raton Tuesday that inflated water-damage claims are “morally wrong” and hurt all consumers by raising rates, while an attorney accused insurers of crying wolf about the latest “crisis” that serves their own needs. More…
JAX Times Union Opinion Lead Letter: Shady lawyers are exploiting loopholes in property insurance policies By Michael Carlson, president, Personal Insurance Federation of Florida Fri, Jun 10, 2016 @ 3:31 pm Last year, Florida broke a record by going 10 straight years without a major hurricane. But not everything is calm as we enter this…
Sun-Sentinel Posted: 04/19/2016, 01:57pm Citizens Property Insurance Corp. is sharing scant details about the scope of its new managed repair program — a cost-reduction initiative that industry experts figure will be imitated widely throughout Florida’s property insurance industry. The managed repair program is intended to allow state-run Citizens to control the claim from beginning to…
Private insurance companies are lining up to request state approval of two key policy revisions intended to reduce losses from a practice called “assignment of benefits.” In late March, the state Office of Insurance Regulation approved requests by Citizens Property Insurance Corp. to limit the cost of emergency repairs after water breaches or other emergencies…
ORLANDO,Fla. — An Orange County man says a roofing company hijacked his insurance claim for hail damage that didn’t exist. Tony Annunziato blames the company for a questionable inspection and threats to sue his insurance company. He said he had a small roof leak, but an inspector from ELR Restoration claimed there was much more. “They said hail damage, there…
DES PLAINES, Ill., March 30, 2016 — The National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) reports today that from January 1, 2014 through December 31, 2015, a total of 2,792,331 water damage claims were filed across the United States. In 2015, there were 1,403,054 water damage claims filed—an increase of just 1 percent over 2014’s total of…
Following the 2016 Florida Legislative Session’s failure to pass essential assignment of benefit (AOB) reforms, the insurance industry and Citizens Property Insurance Corp. are working in tandem with the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR) to find workable administrative measures to help combat this kickback-driven lawsuit-for-profit scheme. The sad truth is AOB abuse is organized…